CHAPTER 25 (The real one)

Friday, The 27th of December

Princess Carolynn Schreave

Jenna isn't up yet.

Of course she's not, it's still dark outside, and unless you're part of the kitchen staff, then your hours don't start till at least a reasonable waking hour. Something to do with unions and equitable working laws and all that jazz. Sure, it's good, good for everyone in the country I guess. Though it's rather annoying that I have to get ready without my maid. Not to say that I'm above the law, but...aren't I? To be fair, I don't normally get up this early, but on the rare occasions I do... Just saying, if anyone deserves to have a maid get paid overtime it's me. Of course, my mother doesn't happen to share my opinion so until I'm Queen I'm stuck like this.

I consider ringing for her anyway, but Mom would find out, she would yell at me, and it wouldn't be worth it in the end. Sad, but true.

I turn the alarm on my phone off, the ringing noise getting on my last nerve. I usually don't use one, but of course, today I had to set one up.

If it was my choice, I wouldn't have come with my parents to watch the fiasco go down. I didn't understand why I had to be there But, it had been made quite clear to me that I had no choice but to go, even though it meant waking up at this ungodly hour.

Don't get me wrong I know why it had to be this early. So that the least amount of people as possible would be awake. I don't even think Jenna knew what was going on, and I certainly didn't tell her. If she didn't want to ask then I wasn't going to share any information. She had been irking me recently, her constant distantness. Probably bitter about something and trying to hide it under the guise of professionalism.

Whatever. She'll get over it eventually. Assuming that she was ever upset in the first place that is.

If I had to get up this early, it would usually be for a flight and I would put on a sweatshirt and leggings, or something akin to that anyway. The urge to put on something like that today was strong, but instead I reach for a frilly pink skirt and matching blouse. It was one of my favorite ones, the thing I wore when I wanted others to think I look pretty. Maybe if I do my hair and dress nicely Henri won't be as upset at me.

That's a pathetic thought.

Of course it is, how would it possibly help? It was the only thing I could think of though, what else could I possibly do to divert his attention?

The answer was simple: Nothing. There was absolutely nothing that I could do to make him less upset after this. He'll be fine in a few days, give or take, but I wanted to dance with him at the New Years Eve ball without it being awkward. So I would do whatever I could to speed up the whole forgiveness process.

Sitting in front of the armoire, I tie the front sections of my hair back with a matching pink ribbon making a somewhat lopsided bow. I don't really have any experience with the...bow making skill, and it's nothing close to anything Jenna would do for me, but it doesn't look bad per say. Just not great. It definitely could be a lot worse.

With that thought in mind, I go through my makeup routine, skipping the eyeliner. I didn't have the patience today to deal with the squiggly lines that always resulted from my lackluster attempt at doing my own eyeliner.

There was nothing else I could really do to delay getting ready and going downstairs. So I put on a small pair of heels, a pearly white, and step out of my room, cloning the door loudly behind me. The only other people it could possibly wake up were my parents, and after what they did to me, a little disturbance in their sleep schedule was well deserved. Besides, I knew that they were both probably downstairs already, probably going over things with the guards who had been selected for this.

I frowned as I walked down the staircase. I hated going to the floors under the first level. Both the basement and the sub-basement depressed me. They were rather ugly, to put it bluntly. The lights were a bright fluorescent color, and the walls were painted a plain shade of white, with bland flooring. Nothing like the upper levels of the place, that I vastly preferred.

The room that Mom had chosen for today must have been some type of training room for the guards, as it had foam mats covering the floor. Two of the senior members of the guard were waiting inside, their uniforms pressed, talking to my mother, as my father watched quietly on. A camera was set up in the back corner of the room, though I didn't think it was on yet.

"Carrie," Dad says, coming over to me, "What's wrong?" he asks, looking at my face.

"What do you think is wrong?" I ask, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

Dad hesitates, "I think I can guess."

"Great. Perfect. Splendid," I say, pressing my nails into the palm of my hand. I don't want to be here at the crack of dawn. I don't want to watch as this happens. But I have to, because I'm a princess, I'm going to be the Queen, and it always ends with situations like this.

"Carrie, lower your voice please," Dad says, rather unhelpfully, though probably in an effort for the guards to not overhear our conversation.

"It is low." I answer back, still pouting.

"Lower than, maybe?"

Finally, in an overly-exaggerated whisper, I say "Is this good enough for you?"

Dad doesn't answer me. "Carrie, I know you're upset, but this isn't how you should be handling it. Just try to listen to him, don't make a big scene. It's not something for you to make about yourself."

I purse my lips at that. As if this doesn't concern me or I'm not allowed to react. "Isn't this about me though? Because of this stupid, stupid tradeship, I'm going to have no one to dance with at ther New Years Eve ball and I'm going to have to adopt seven cats and I'm allergic to them!" I finally exclaim, probably sounding incoherent. I know my rant made absolutely no sense, but it's not fair. It's not fair that no one even gets my perils. I should be allowed to react however I want when it's my life that my parents are running without as much as a second look.

The absolute confusion is clear on my father's face. "What are you talking about? You're not allergic to cats."

"I could be. You don't understand."

Dad still looks confused, "Oh. Uh, okay then."

I ignore him for the rest of the time, alternating between scrolling through social media and checking the time until Henri arrives, another guard trailing him. He's wearing a wite sweater, making his already pale face look as if he's seen a ghost. Or as if he is a ghost.

"Henri, perfect. How are you?" Mom asks in what might be one of the worst displays of false cheeriness I've ever seen.

He shrugs, "I'm fine."

"Okay, give us a few minutes, and the Officer Jarlson wants to go over some safety procedures with you."

Henri nods, he doesn't have much of a choice in the matter anyway. I would go over to him, but I don't want to seem desperate. Instead, I smile at him when he looks over, and he comes to stand by me, hopefully out of a desire for a conversation and not out of basic politeness, but today I'll take what I can get. Whatever that might be.

"I like your dress," he says, nodding towards the floral fabric. Thank God. I knew this was a lucky outfit for a reason.

"Thanks, so, what are you guys doing for the ball?"

Henri blinks, "The ball- oh you mean the New Years Eve one. I'm...I'm sure Miss Van Der Witts has something planned. I don't know."

"Oh. Well, I'm excited for it."

"Yeah." He doesn't offer any more information, looking uneasily at the guards who were talking with my mother. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from putting at the fact that he's paying them more attention than me. Somehow I think that won't go over very well with either of my parents. If they happened to notice that is, which I would give a 50/50 shot considering the general lack of regard they've been giving me recently.

Speaking of Mom, "Come here for a second," she says, motioning not to me, her own daughter, but to Henri. Of course.

Henri walks up wordlessly, following the instructions given to him like he always does. One of the guards speaks, "Tell me if this is too tight, okay?" he asks.

"Are those handcuffs?"

"They're so you don't hurt yourself." The guard explains hurriedly.

Henri pauses for a second, "I don't get it."

"If you fall and try to catch yourself you could break a bone or at least sprain your wrist."

"Oh."

Mom sighs looking over to the guard, "Is there perhaps anything a bit less...clinical."

"We have fabric ones, but they don't work as well, Your Majesty."

"I'm sure they'll be fine."

That's it. I can't stand here anymore. I can't watch this. I don't care what my parents say. I feel like I might throw up, like my stomach was just invaded with a couple hundred butterflies who are all having a competition to see who can fly around the fastest.

And this doesn't happen to me. I don't get nervous. I don't get scared.

Quietly, and half-hoping nobody notices (The other half of me is hoping that someone will care enough to try and stop me), I push the door open. I would run up the stairs, but I'm wearing heels and honestly, I don't feel like having a spectacular black and blue bruise to match my already bruised ego.

I know the first place my parents would think to look for me is my room, call me predictable, but fair enough. Instead, in an effort to subvert expectations, I go to a small parlor on the first floor, decorated in shades of blue.

Perfect to go with my mood.

I don't think I've ever hated the color blue more in my entire life.

I'm alone for a good half an hour, before I hear someone come in. "Can you get me an iced coffee, please," I call out, assuming it's a maid.

"Oh, Your Highness, I didn't realize anyone was in here," comes a voice that is most definitely not a maid. Tex.

Fabulous.

"Yeah, well, if you listened you would have."

"I can go, if you want?" he asks, seeming borderline offended at my comment. Jeez. Some people need to get a thicker skin, if that's all it takes to upset them.

I almost tell him to leave, but if I do, then I will not only be alone, but I would have forced myself to be alone. Tex might not be my absolute favorite of the boys in my selection, hell, he's not even in the top three, but he's better than nothing. He's better than sitting here wallowing in my own self-pity like some pathetic commoner.

"No, actually, stay." I pat the cushion next to me on the couch, "here, come sit." I offer, forcing a smile on my face.

"Okay," Tex agrees, sitting down next to me. "So, what are you doing up so early."

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I asked first."

"I'm the Princess," I point out. I don't know what Tex's reasons are, but I would like to hear them before coming up with my lie, just so I can know how far off from the truth I should make it.

"Alright, fair enough." Tex clears his throat, shrugging, "I was going to go for a run. Figured it would be nice." Oh. That explains his sweatpants and track jacket. I would have asked about it if I wasn't wondering about oh, maybe a bajillion other things. I don't have time for things like that to occupy my mind.

"That sounds nice," I say, only partly interested. "Do you do that a lot?"

"Eh. I guess. Not really."

"Oh."

Tex turns to me, "So, you're up next, why are you up at… 7: 30 in the morning over the holidays," he says, checking his watch.

I take a deep breath, making my smile bigger, "I had to look over some reports about the governor elections in Hudson. I know it's over Christmas but the election is in early January so…" I trail off at the end, giving a convincing half shrug.

"That sounds...interesting."

"You wouldn't believe how interesting it is," I mutter under my breath, even though I was planning on doing nothing of the sort.

"I think I can guess," Tex says with a laugh. He looks handsome when he laughs, I guess he usually does, but somehow, now that I'm lonely, he looks better than other times. I don't have anything better to do today, my made up reports about the election in Hudson can surely sort themselves out, seeing as they were never real in the first place.

So, instead, I push my lips against his, trying to push the guilt out of my stomach at the same time. Tex seems surprised at first, but he cups his hand around the back of my head, kissing me back.

I shouldn't be doing this. Of course I shouldn't be. I have a boyfriend, and I know that despite what I might tell myself, the only reason I'm kissing Tex right now is out of a petty desire to make Henri jealous, even though he'll never know. To prove that any boy in Illéa would be ecstatic to have the chance to even be in a conversation with me, let alone kiss me. I know I have an entire selection going on, but I still need this validation, the one that Tex is currently giving me.

It's ridiculous really, but as Tex's thumb touches my cheek, I can't bring myself to feel remotely bad about it. Guilty maybe, but only in the sense that I know I shouldn't be doing it, not that I feel terrible for actually kissing him.

Maybe that's wrong. Maybe I should be different, but whatever. I can't even bring myself to care at this point. Life's too short to act like a shy little girl, scared of confrontation.

The door to the parlor swings open, and before I can turn away I hear my little cousin's voice. "Ew. Are you kissing," Teddy says loudly.

I whirl around, looking at him, accompanied by my uncle, "Can you go away Teddy. Please," I add as an afterthought.

"Teds, why don't you go wait in the foyer," Uncle Luke says, lightly nudging Teddy towards the door. Once he's out of earshot, Luke turns back to me, "Sorry, I didn't know this room was... occupied," he says, choosing his words carefully, as his cheeks turn red from embarrassment.

"You could have knocked," I point out.

Tex swallows loudly, seeming more embarrassed than my uncle, and far far far more embarrassed than me, seeing as I couldn't care less. "I'll go. Sorry, Your Highness," he says to Luke, "See you later," he mutters to me.

"Good job. You scared off my date," I exclaim, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

"Did something happen between you and Henri?" he asks cautiously.

"No. Nothing happened. And even if it did, I wouldn't tell you."

"Right."

"Also, why is Teddy here anyway? He already annoyed me enough at Christmas." I say, crossing my arms.

"I have to drop him off at his friend's birthday party, but I figured I should check my blackberry before I go, seeing with everything going on."

"Oh. Well, don't bring him next time."

Luke shakes his head, "I'll try."

He goes to leave, but before he opens the door, I stop him. I have to, just in case, "Wait," I call out, pausing for him to turn back, "Don't tell anyone about this, please, especially not Mom or Dad. They're never going to let me hear the end of it."

"I wasn't planning on it." Uncle Luke says, chuckling lightly. "I thought I was supposed to be the cool uncle."

"You're my only uncle. It would be sad if you weren't. You would have lost a competition to nobody."

"Great. Look, Car, not to pressure you, but can you try to be a bit nicer to Teddy, he looks up to you, since Garnet fights with him every chance he gets." Luke adds the last part with a small laugh.

I bite the inside of my cheek, feeling momentarily bad, "yeah sure. I'll try."

Maybe I will, maybe I won't but I can't bring myself to say no.

I guess I'll try. Playing nice with a boy who is quite literally a decade younger ten me, not to mention my cousin won't exactly kill me.

To distract myself from my potential failures as a human being, I decide to go to Pearl's ridiculous etiquette classes. I'm not sure who allowed her to hold classes over the holidays, but I'm too thankful for a distraction to be able to properly care about the obvious injustice it is to my selected.

The rest of the selected sans Nyson who I suspect is running late are already in the ballroom when I get there, in various versions of the same outfit. A polo shirt or sweater with some form of nice pants. Nishav was alone in his outfit choice, wearing a button down shirt and a tan suit jacket. At least he's creative - more or less.

"Princess," Nathaniel says, looking over and bowing, the rest of them following suit. I avoid Tex's eyes, since there's probably no polite way to tell him to his face that our kiss was just an attempt to make myself feel better. That's a conversation best left to the imagination.

"Hi." I say, finally smiling for the first time in what felt like days, but to be fair, was probably more like a few hours. "I felt bad about you all having to go to classes right now, so I figured I would join you. We might as well all suffer together right?" I ask, shrugging slightly.

The boys seem enthusiastic to that, whether it being the idea of me sympathizing with them or just the idea of them being in my presence is a tossup. Nishav clears his throat, "To his credit, Mr. Brooms canceled classes. It's just Lady van Der Witts who insists on holding them during this time."

I figured as much, "Oh. That makes sense. Well, it's probably wrong to fire anyone so close to Christmas, right?" I ask, hoping my semi-serious statement came out more as a joke than a serious threat to Pearl's employment. Though I was really considering the latter.

"I would think as much," Nishav answers.

I duck my head, nodding slightly. "So, did you all learn how to dance for the ball?" I ask, changing the subject quickly.

"More or less," someone mutters from the back.

"That's good. I like dancing at the balls, it's really fun. I'm happy you'll all get to experience it," I say, realizing belatedly that I'm rambling and clamping my mouth surt. What is wrong with me today?

I never thought I'd say the words - or even think them - but thank god that Pearl chose this moment to walk in, a binder stuck under her arm. "Your Highness I didn't know you would be joining us today," she says, laying eyes on me.

"I didn't know either till about ten minutes ago."

"Hm," Miss Van Der Witts turns to the remaining selected, counting them quickly, "We seem to be two short. None of you got eliminated, right?"

I shake my head.

"Huh. Who's missing, then?"

"Nyson's probably running late," Tex offers, adding "As usual," under his breath.

"Of course he is. Thaddeus, be a dear and go get him."

"How am I supposed to know where he is?"

"That's not really my issue. Go now," Pearl stares at him, a condescending smile on her face, until he exits the room, looking disgruntled. "Who else is there...oh, Henri. Is he still not feeling well?"

"I heard he hurt his arm," Bas volunteers.

"What?" Divesh asks, turning towards him, "Who did you hear that from." I would like to know the answer to that myself, but I keep my eyes trained on the wall in front of me, my face showing nothing but the plainest of concern.

"His butler," Bas answers simply, "I went by his room earlier to see if he was still sick, but his butler told me he was seeing the doctor because of his arm," he finishes, shrugging.

"That's not good." Divesh says, "When did it happen?"

Bas shrugs again, "I don't know. His arm seemed fine last night. Probably this morning." Bas is closer to the truth, or at least, the correct time frame, then I'd like to say, and I make sure to keep my face even straighter than it was before, glancing down at the floor to hide my eyes.

"That's...That's horrible. Do you know how bad it was?"

"Nope. His butler didn't say. I'll go with you to ask him later if you want. I feel bad," Bas offers to Divesh.

"Sure. Why not?" Divesh agrees, who seems pretty concerned for Henri. I knew they were friends, but this makes me feel even worse about what happened earlier. I just hope that Henri, the dreadful liar that he is, manages to stick to whatever cover story the palace had given to him earlier.

Pearl seems to be worried for reasons other than the more altruistic ones that Bas and Divesh are focused on. "I hope that his arm is better by Tuesday. I would hate for there to be a situation with the event. The media would be thrown into a tizzy."

It takes most of the self-control that I have left to point out that there were teams of people to deal with the royal family's, and now by extension the selected's, appearance in the media. And I sincerely doubt that anything other then the trashiest of tabloids and gossip magazines would have anything bad to say about an injured arm (The severity of which I really should figure out)

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," I add in the sweetest voice I can muster.

"Of course not, Your Highness." Pearl says, putting on a strained smile.

"We have people whose job it is to worry about those things. Professionals," I add, "With degrees from college, and graduate school."

"Well, if Nyson and Tex ever come back to join us, they can take part in our activity for today." Pearl pauses for dramatic effect, "We're going to go over the proper drinking order for an event."

A collective groan runs through the room, even I take part, though mine is in my head instead of out loud. I was hoping for something a bit more exciting for today, but I guess it beats out sitting in my room binge-watching some reality TV show while eating my weight in macadamia nut cookies albeit slimly.

"Sebastian," Pearl says, "You're 20, correct?"

"Yeah. I am."

"Underage," she mutters to herself, "You're excused."

"Wiat, what?

"You're not old enough to take part. You can leave."

No, I can stay, I mean, I want to. I don't have anything better to do." Join the club

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. I mean, Why not?"

Pearl sighs, "Alright I'll have someone bring...what do you like to drink?"

"Uh, lemonade."

"Yes. Very well. I'll have someone bring lemonade for you."

The rest of the afternoon drags on, as Pearl carries out a lesson that far exceeds anything that I've ever heard of, and I've been in these classes since before I could write my own name. Normally I would have corrected her, taken satisfaction in the fact that she was wrong and I was right. Not today though. Not today.

A/N: Hey everyone so I have the actual chapter 25 today. For those of you who didn't put the pieces together, the last one was a joke and you can disregard it. I'm still debating whether or not I should take it down, but I guess I'll leave it up for now, I don't really know. I'm attempting Nano this month which is going less than spectacularly. Love that for me. Anyway, I hope you all have a great day